FA owner: Is it worth buying a D-05 ?

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SynthRolie
Posts: 19
Joined: 18:57, 5 December 2014
Location: The Netherlands

FA owner: Is it worth buying a D-05 ?

Post by SynthRolie »

Hello,

I love the D-50 sounds and have loaded them from the AXIAL Integra site into my FA-08 and this works great. But I was wondering if I gain any advantages in buying the new D-05 boutique synth, besides the frontpanel controls.

Does the Integra chip process the D-50 sounds the same as the D-05 chip does ?
Will there be any sound quality differences ?

I hope somebody can give me any advice before emptying my wallet :P

Thanks ;)
humax
Posts: 13
Joined: 13:00, 5 June 2017

Re: FA owner: Is it worth buying a D-05 ?

Post by humax »

It all depends on how big your love is. With that Integra Axial library you'll be very limited cause it's just an attempt to mimic to some extent some original sounds of D-50 with use of SuperNatural engine which is not the same as D-50. For instance you won't be able to get Staccato Heaven sounding as nice as an original one with use of Supernatural since it lacks "Bells" waveform component at least. I believe it was made deliberately by Roland in order to push people for buying more their products if concerned that much.
Otherwise Roland cloud D-50 is a way to go. If you're a hardware guy you could do what I did: I nicely sampled D-50 patches from the Roland cloud to my AKAI Z8 and it work fantastic. You can even sample just every single partial of D-50 then create your own complex multi layer patches inside the sampler.
SynthRolie
Posts: 19
Joined: 18:57, 5 December 2014
Location: The Netherlands

Re: FA owner: Is it worth buying a D-05 ?

Post by SynthRolie »

Hello Humax,
I really do love the sounds, so I'm thinking towards buying one.

The sampling is a good idea, I did multi-sampling all the time with my FantomX7 (sold to buy the FA) and VST sounds for live performance. The only thing is, as the FA is awesome and stands out in sound quality, this is the one feature I really miss on the FA.

I really hope (and not only me, as I read in the FA forum :P) Roland will implement multi-sampling on the FA in the future *hint to Roland ;)*

Thanks for your reply! :)
SynthRolie
Posts: 19
Joined: 18:57, 5 December 2014
Location: The Netherlands

Re: FA owner: Is it worth buying a D-05 ?

Post by SynthRolie »

I ordered one...

I found that Roland Cloud has a trial period and I tried the D-50 VST
Assuming the hardware version D-05 is pretty much the same, it is totally worth the money!
And indeed better sounding than the Integra emulations, which are still good though :)

I think the FA and D-05 will be my 'amazing duo' for a while :D
sompost
Posts: 23
Joined: 10:42, 2 January 2016
Location: near Burgdorf, Switzerland
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Re: FA owner: Is it worth buying a D-05 ?

Post by sompost »

I faintly remember having seen the D-50 in stores when I was a bit younger. I wasn't really into it then, though, for reasons I can't recall. Also, owning a DX7, I kind of had it with digital anyway.

Fast forward a few decades, I saw a YouTube video of a guy playing the D-50 which (literally) brought tears to his eyes (Soundtrack voice). I managed to grab a D-10 off an auction site for CHF51 (USD 50), about two months before the D-05 was announced.

I deliberated for about two seconds and then placed an order. Those "in the know" say that it sounds close enough to the original. The boutique form is small but well manageable. Yes, you could get a full-size D-50 at about the same price, but I trade the physical keyboard (that I don't need) for the several banks of extra voices any time.

Too many words, I reckon, when four would've sufficed: Yes it is absolutely worth it!
SynthRolie
Posts: 19
Joined: 18:57, 5 December 2014
Location: The Netherlands

Re: FA owner: Is it worth buying a D-05 ?

Post by SynthRolie »

Hello sompost,

I didn't know the D-50 was such an iconic synth until I read about it with the announcement of the D-05. Didn't paid much attention to it till I got the FA and saw the D-50 Integra patches on the Axial site. Did some more research on the synth and found a video which compared the D-50 and D-05 patches side by side and was impressed by the unique sound they produce.

I installed the Integra pack on my FA and was pretty happy with it, until I began to wonder how much better it will be to have the D-05.

After having the D-05 for a few days now I can say very much better! Very cool looking nice little box with awesome sounds and nice controls, also the arpeggiator is very fun to play with together with the FA :)
The upcoming weeks I'm going to learn programming my own sounds.

I also ordered a M-Audio CODE61 to connect to the D-05 which I think is a good combination (and also because I needed a synth action keyboard besides the weighted keys of the FA :P)

I will post my findings of the D-05 / CODE61 combination later for anyone who's interested :)
Fourfiftyfour
Posts: 107
Joined: 02:17, 21 October 2017

Re: FA owner: Is it worth buying a D-05 ?

Post by Fourfiftyfour »

GET IT!

the D-05 Sounds Amazing! and once it's discontinued it's going to be going for crazy prices. Learned that the hard way with the JU-06.
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